The North American Arms "Mini-Master" came supplied with interchangeable cylinders for .22 LR and .22 Win. Mag. cartridges. It comes with a 4 inch barrel and weighs just over ten ounces. This is a long barreled version of the popular NAA "Black Widow." It's built on the same basic platform, but with twice the barrel length at a "cost" of less than two ounces in weight gain.

The Mini-Master is a dream to shoot, and shoot accurately. The longer sighting plane, wide flat rib, and adjustable sights make it instinctive to point and shoot. I didn't expect a very good trigger with this type of ultra-reliable pocket gun, but I got one. It breaks right at 4-1/4 lbs., crisply and cleanly.

Shooting offhand at 10 yards, I was able to keep all five rapid-shots inside the "Pepsi" circle of a can of diet Pepsi with Lapua Hollow point .22 LR ammo. I consider this to be superb accuracy for a gun of this type. Sadly, I've run out of stuffed "Barney the Dinosaurs," which are my preferred head shot practice target. From the 4" barrel a goodly number of .22 LR rounds will break 1000 fps muzzle velocity with no trouble.

The Mini Master is a fun gun to carry and to shoot. And Immensely safe to carry due to the notched cylinder system found on NAA mini-revolvers. It is a snap to set into inert carry position. The cylinder notches on the side of the cylinder are easily positioned so there is a cylinder notch positioned equally to the left and to the right of the top of the frame. You can also verify that the hammer is resting in a safety notch by looking at the back of the revolver and noting that the hammer is centered between the web of the cylinder, with brass on both sides.

With the hammer let down into the safety notch, I suspect that you could pound on the Mini-Master's hammer with a sledgehammer without causing the gun to fire. No, I've not tried it. It is clearly a positive, mechanical hammer block.

Perhaps due to more urban residents than rural, many of us are isolated a bit from the way things work. A .22 LR round between the eyes of an adult steer sends then down--straight down, and for good. Common knowledge on the farm, but something that city residents just don't see everyday. (Steer slaughter weight runs from BIF frame score 2 as 850 lb. to BIF frame score 9 as 1550 pounds. Heifers go from 700 to 1400 lb. with the same frame score.)

Easy to handle, easy to shoot and to shoot well, built with rugged simplicity and good metallurgy that equates to reliability, this NAA revolver does everything I could expect a handgun of this type to do, and it does it five times without fail. That it fits effortlessly into a glove box, a purse, or a small attaché (and other places limited only by your imagination) brings back the old saying "God made man and woman; Col. Colt made them equal." For intimate self-protection, it seems that the North American Arms team has done just that.